Job 2
1 On another day, the angels came again and gathered together in front of Yahweh, and Satan came too.
But it happened that, on a certain day, when the sons of God had arrived and they stood before the Lord, Satan likewise arrived among them, and he stood in his sight.
2 Yahweh asked Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan replied, “I have come from the earth, where I have been traveling back and forth, seeing what is happening.”
So the Lord said to Satan, “Where do you come from?” Answering, he said, “I have circled the land, and walked around in it.”
3 Yahweh asked Satan, “Have you (noticed/thought about) my [faithful] servant Job? He is very godly/righteous [DOU], he greatly respects/reveres me, and he [always] avoids doing evil things. And he still acts in a very godly/righteous manner, even though you persuaded me to [let you] cause disastrous things to happen to him for no reason.”
And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you not considered my servant, Job, that there is no one like him in the land, a simple and honest man, fearing God and withdrawing from evil, and still retaining his innocence? Yet you have stirred me against him, so that I would afflict him to no purpose.”
4 Satan replied to Yahweh, “He praises you only because you bless him [IDM]. People will give up everything they have to save their own lives.
Answering him, Satan said, “Skin for skin; and everything that a man has, he will give for his life.
5 But if you harm his body [MTY], he will surely curse you openly [IDM]!”
Yet send your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and then you will see whether or not he blesses you to your face.”
6 Yahweh replied to Satan, “(All right/Okay), you may do to him whatever you want to do, but do not cause him to die.”
Therefore, the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but even so, spare his life.”
7 So Satan left, and he caused Job to be afflicted with very painful boils, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.
And so, Satan departed from the face of the Lord and he struck Job with a very serious ulcer from the sole of the foot all the way to the crown of his head.
8 Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped the boils on his skin, and he sat in ashes [as people did when they were mourning for those who had died].
So he took a shard of earthenware and scraped the discharge, while sitting on a heap of refuse.
9 His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to (be loyal to/faithfully trust in) God? You should curse God, and then you will die.”
But his wife said to him, “Do you still continue in your simplicity? Bless God and die.”
10 But Job replied, “You talk like people who do not know God talk. (Should we accept only the good things that God [does for us]?/We should not accept only the good things that God [does for us].) [RHQ] We should also accept bad things.” So in spite of all these [things that happened to] Job, [he] did not say anything against God.
He said to her, “You have spoken like one of the foolish wives. If we accepted good things from the hand of God, why should we not accept bad things?” In all this, Job did not sin with his lips.
11 Among Job’s friends were Eliphaz from Teman [town], Bildad from Shuah [land] and Zophar from Naamah [land]. When they heard about all the terrible things that had happened to Job, they left their home areas and went together to Job to console/comfort him [DOU].
And so, three friends of Job, hearing about all the evil that had befallen him, arrived, each one from his own place, Eliphaz the Themanite, and Baldad the Suhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had agreed to come together to visit and console him.
12 When they saw Job from a distance, they almost did not recognize him. They wailed loudly, they tore their robes, and they threw dust over their heads [to show how sorry they were because of what had happened to Job].
And when they had raised up their eyes from a distance, they did not recognize him, and, crying out, they wept, and, tearing their garments, they scattered dust over their heads into the sky.
13 Then they sat on the ground with Job for seven days. None of them said anything to Job, because they saw that he was suffering greatly, [and they did not think that anything that they said would lessen his pain].
And they sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his sorrow was very great.
